SERVICE MARKETING

SERVICE MARKETING
AREA OF STUDY: SPECIALIZATION
BAC424

Year: 4
Semester: 7

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* Continuous
** Duration: 3 hours

Course Objectives
The basic objectives of this course are to introduce the basic concepts of services marketing to students, to enhance their knowledge and approaches of services marketing, and to develop skills in them to handle tactfully emerging services marketing challenges and issues.
Course Contents
1. Introduction to Services Marketing T.H.5
Meaning and importance of service marketing: Characteristics of services; Service and technology: Goods vs Services Marketing; Services marketing; Services marketing mix.
2. Consumer Behavior in Services T.H.7
Consumer decision making process in services; Factors that influence consumer expectations of services; Service quality: dimensions, service encounters, customer satisfaction vs service quality.
3. Building Customer Relationships T.H.6
Relationship marketing: goals and benefits; Evolution of relationship marketing; Foundation of relationship Strategies; Quality in the core services, Market segmentation and strategy; Managing customer base.
4. Service Recovery T.H.4
Concept of service recovery; Types of complainers; Customer expectations about their complains; Service recovery strategies.
5. New Service Development T.H.5
Concept of new service; Types of new services; Stages in new service development; Branding of services.
6. Pricing of Services T.H.4
Objectives and foundation for setting prices; Approaches to pricing services; Revenue management
7. Distributing Services T.H.5
Distribution in a service context; The type of contact; options for service delivery; Decision about place and time: where should service be delivered? When should service be delivered?
8. Designing the Communication Mix for Services T.H.6
Meaning and importance of marketing communication; Reasons for service communication problems; Marketing communication mix; Difference in promoting services.
9. People in Service T.H.6
Concept of service employees; Importance of service employees; Difficulties faced by service employees; Strategies for closing gap 3
Text Books
1. Zeithaml and Bitner, Services Marketing, 3rd Ed., Tata McGraw- Hill Company, New Delhi
2. Lovelock and Wirtz, Services Marketing, 5th Ed., Pearson Education, New Delhi.
3. Balaji, Services Marketing and Management, 1st Ed., S. Chand & Company, Delhi.